UCU Digital Institutional Repository(UCUDIR)
Welcome to the Uganda Christian University Digital Institutional Repositoy (UCUDIR). This is the University's official Institutional Repository. It aims to collect, preserve and showcase the intellectual output of staff and students of UCU. This growing collection of research includes peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, working papers, theses, and more.
- The Repository ingests documents, audio, video, datasets and their corresponding Dublin Core metadata
- The aim is to open up this content to local and global audiences, with have optimized well for Google Scholar so your items here shows up on Google Scholar searches
- we also issue permanent urls and trustworthy identifiers, including optional integrations with handle.net and DataCite DOI
Not Registered? click here to Register or or if already registered: Click To submit your Item ::For more information visit any UCU Library branch
Communities in UCUDIR
Select a community to browse its collections.
- Items in this community present a concise summary of information that can help readers understand, and likely make decisions about, government policies.
- This is a collection of Masters and Doctoral theses and dissertations submitted in electronic format to the Uganda Christian University.
Recent Submissions
Mobile Digital Apps and News Production at NTV Uganda
(Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2023-03) Antonio Kisembo Elisha; Fred Kakooza
In the era of technological innovations, new media technologies continue to change the news production culture in media organizations. Specifically, mobile applications have created opportunities for fast delivery, packaging, and access to news on digital platforms. These have also provided ground for citizen journalism to thrive in the global south. Focusing on Uganda, this research investigates how mobile digital technologies have affected news production at NTV Uganda. The study examines how mobile apps that include NTV Go, Live U, and Octopus have affected the production of news at NTV Uganda. The study draws from the diffusion of innovations theoretical framework to interrogate the rate of adoption and use of mobile apps in the news production process to understand how technological innovations have been adopted and integrated at NTV Uganda. The study employed a case study design to assess the effect of new media technology on news production. The findings indicate that customized mobile apps at NTV Uganda have enhanced timely production and delivery of news. The findings further indicate that the public is also able to engage with the station to contribute and share their community stories through the NTV Go mobile apps. However, these changes have brought about unsettling problems of accuracy and credibility in the production of news at NTV Uganda. The study concludes that new media technologies have enabled quick and efficient production of news which is a major affordance of digital journalism.
Traditional Media and New Technologies: Facebook Radio Programming in Uganda
(Springer Nature, 2025-05) Fred Max Adii; Fred Kakooza
Digital technologies have transformed the media sector at the global level and influenced trends in Africa, particularly the broadcasting media sector in Uganda. The liberalisation of the broadcasting sector in Uganda and the rise in digital technologies, including mobile phones and the Internet, facilitates a convergence of the traditional radio medium and new media including social media. Traditional media including radio stations have adopted both digital and analogue broadcasting to remain accessible and relevant to their audience. To encourage this bond with their listeners, radio stations rely on traditional radio broadcasts, and many add-ons from other new media, including websites and Facebook live streams, as well as inviting listeners to call-in and answer quiz questions. Using the affordance perspective as the analytical framework, this chapter assesses how Facebook has been used in programming and how it has influenced programming. Through direct observation and in-depth interviews, this chapter explores the use of Facebook in radio programming in Uganda. The focus is on a commercial radio station––94.8XFM—where it was established that Facebook is critical to traditional radio programming in connecting with the audience, interact/engage with audience, identifying niche audiences, and interacting with the audience through multi-media content production. The audience now has a new user experience of producing and consuming radio content through a networked social media fan base; localised publishing of news and information on the radio station’s page. The Facebook platform is contributing to the station’s revenue base through advertising and promotion of products and services online.
Seasonal Dynamics and Optimal Control Analysis of Fowlpox Disease
(Springer Nature, 2025-02) Cosmas Muhumuza; Joseph Y. T. Mugisha; Fred Mayambala; John Kitayimbwa
Fowlpox is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects chickens and turkeys, though it can infect various bird species. The disease spreads rapidly through vectors, contaminated environments, and infected hosts, and is challenging to control due to seasonal variations influencing its dynamics. In this study, a deterministic model incorporating periodic mosquito growth and virus decay rates is formulated and analysed to assess the impact of seasonality in the disease dynamics. The model is further modified by incorporating time-dependent control parameters and analysed to evaluate the effect of insecticide spraying and environmental decontamination on the disease management. Optimal control theory is applied to determine the effectiveness of these interventions. The basic reproduction number, , is computed using the time-averaging method and the linear operator approach, and the results are analysed. The trajectories derived from the time-averaging method alternately overestimate and underestimate the disease risk as the amplitude of seasonal oscillations increases. In contrast, the linear operator approach consistently shows that regardless of the virus decay rate. Optimal results demonstrated that environmental decontamination is more effective than the insecticide spraying though relying on one strategy does not completely eliminate fowl pox disease in the chicken. However, combining both control measures yields significantly better outcomes.
Mathematical Modeling of the role of IL-23/Th17 in Asthma Pathogenesis
(Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 2025-12) Betty K Nabiyonga Kirenga; John M Kitayimbwa; Joseph Y T Mugisha
AsthmapathogenesisinvolvesactivitiesofotherThelper(Th)cells,suchasTh17cells, apart from the known Th1-Th2 cell interaction due to its severity. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, Interleukin (IL)-23/IL-1 mainly produced by macrophages, are considered essential for differentiating Th17 cells, which mediate neutrophilic inflammation (a major inflammatory characteristic of severe asthma, and resistant to available therapy). Variations in allergen exposure can induce distinct inflammatory phenotypes: an eosinophilic phenotype mediated by Th2 cells, a neutrophilic phenotype mediated by Th17 cells, or a mixed phenotype in severe asthma. We developed a mathematical model describing the regulation of Th2 cells, Th17 cells, and macrophages, incorporating IL-23/IL-1 cytokines under varying allergen exposure levels to predict potential therapeutic intervention conditions. The model exhibited two steady-state scenarios corresponding to the absence and presence of allergen, characterized by a transcritical forward bifurcation and mono-, bi-stability with hysteresis reflecting asthma severity, respectively. Bifurcation analysis predicted that the secretion rate of IL-23/IL-1 cytokines, together with the leaving rate of macrophages, are significant
factors influencing neutrophilic inflammation. These findings suggest that modulating these parameters may offer effective therapeutic strategies to control asthma severity and shift the system further towards a healthier outcome.
Modelling Asthma Development in a Population With Genetic Risk and Polluted Environment
(Vilnius University Press, 2023-02) Betty K. Nabiyonga Kirenga; John M. Kitayimbwa; Joseph Y.T. Mugisha
Environmental pollutant continues to pose a great threat to public health, leading to development of chronic diseases. In this study, a nonlinear mathematical model is formulated and analysed to study the effect of genetic risk, environmental pollutant, public health education/awareness on asthma development. Conditions for the existence of the unique positive steady state and permanence of the system are assessed. Using Lyapunov function analysis, the unique positive steady state is locally and globally asymptotically stable. Results reveal that genetic risk, pollutant emission rate, effective exposure rate of population to polluted environment and recurrence rate contribute to asthma prevalence. However, sufficiently effective pollutant reduction strategies, improvement in compliance to public health education/awareness together with human dependent environmental pollutant depletion lead to a marked reduction in disease prevalence.